2007 REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE MANAGED RECREATION INDUSTRY

General Survey Results

The facilities that were most likely to charge a fee included YMCAs, YWCAs and JCCs, 100 percent of which said they charge a fee. Also highly likely to charge a fee for usage were sports and health clubs (96.7 percent). The facilities least likely to charge for membership or usage were schools and school districts (21.5 percent of which reported charging a membership or usage fee) and military installations (one-third of which reported charging fees).

As with the expected increases in the number of people using recreation, sports and fitness facilities, the fees these facilities charge for usage or membership are generally expected to increase or remain the same between 2005 and 2008. While 55.9 percent of respondents did not change their fee from 2005 to 2006, 53.7 percent are anticipating an increase in fees from 2007 to 2008. Very few respondents are planning to decrease their fees over the next several years. (See Figure 9.)

Not surprisingly, private for-profit organizations were most likely to anticipate fee increases from 2005 to 2008, while public organizations were least likely to anticipate fee increases. Only 37.2 percent of public organizations increased their fees from 2005 to 2006, and less than half plan to increase their fees from 2006 to 2007 (41.5 percent) and from 2007 to 2008 (49.6 percent). Private, for-profit organizations were more likely to be anticipating fee increases, with more than half (56.1 percent) having implemented fee increases from 2005 to 2006, 65.7 percent planning an increase from 2006 to 2007, and 62.1 percent planning an increase from 2007 to 2008. (See Figure 10.)